A series of mystery fires that broke out at European cargo hubs in July have been linked to a covert Russian plot testing the best way for Moscow to plant bombs on US-bound cargo planes, Western officials say.
The fires, which erupted at two DHL air hubs in Germany and England and at a courier site in Poland, were the result of electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance, the Wall Street Journal said.
The devices that ignited in England were traced back to Lithuania, with local police arresting a suspect linked to a wider Russian plot to sabotage future shipments to the US and North America, officials said.
US, British, German and other European nations have repeatedly accused Moscow of attempting to sabotage nations providing military and financial aid to Ukraine.
The suspect in Lithuania initially identified himself as Igor Prudnikov, but authorities discovered his real name was Alexander Suranovas, an alleged operative being used by Russia’s spy network.
Of the bombs sent to the British transport hub in Birmingham, officials said Suranovas sent out a total of four incendiary devices, including two from a DHL shop in the capital of Vilnius.
Polish police have also arrested four people in connection with fires at a transport hub in Jablonow near Warsaw, with at least two more suspects being hunted down for allegedly “participating in sabotage or terrorist operations on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency.”
Pawel Szota, the head of Poland’s foreign intelligence agency, said Moscow was directly involved in the fires, which had the potential to kill workers at the cargo hubs.
“I’m not sure the political leaders of Russia are aware of the consequences if one of these packages exploded, causing a mass casualty event,” Szota said in a statement.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the July fires, with German officials noting that the flight carrying the incendiary devices at DHL’s Leipzig port had been delayed before the blaze started.
The fire in Jablonow took two hours to extinguish, according to Polish media.
The US Transportation Security Administration said America has bolstered its air cargo screening in recent months and that there is currently no active threat targeting US-bound flights.
DHL said it was made aware of the truth behind the fires at its German and English facilities, noting that the company is cooperating with investigators.
The Kremlin refuted the reports emerging around the alleged plot, slamming them as “unsubstantiated” stories from Western media.
